Arts advancement, or, The most exact, lineal, swift, short, and easy method of short-hand-writing hitherto extant, is now after a view of all others, and twenty eight years practice) raised to a higher degree of perfection than any as yet published / by William Mason ...

Arts advancement, or, The most exact, lineal, swift, short, and easy method of short-hand-writing hitherto extant, is now after a view of all others, and twenty eight years practice) raised to a higher degree of perfection than any as yet published / by William Mason ...

The third edition, corrected and enlarged.

London : Where books are to be had ... printed for the author, 1687.

1 volume ; 15 x 7 cm

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

Great Britain -- England -- London, -- publication place.

272889

From dealer's description: "Mason (William). Arts Advancement or the most Exact, Lineal, Swift, Short, and Easy method of Short-hand-Writing hitherto Extant, is now after a view of all others, and twenty eight years practice) raised to a higher degree of perfection than any as yet published, 3rd edition, corrected and enlarged, [London]: Printed for the Author, 1687, 24 leaves, engraved portrait frontispiece, engraved title within architectural border, engraved text to one side of leaf printed within decorative border, leaf 3 with early ink doodle and leaf 21 with early manuscript, occasional fraying to margins, some light dust-soiling, front free endpaper with early manuscript calculation in brown ink and note 'S. Lowdell from Mrs Phillips', contemporary sheep, joints slightly cracked at head and foot, lightly scuffed, slim 12mo (14.4 x 6.9 cm) (Quantity: 1) ESTC R23530; Wing M942. Wing gives format 16mo. Scarce, only two UK institutional copies found (Edinburgh Central Library and Senate House Library, University of London), and four copies in US institutional libraries found (Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, New York Public Library, Newberry Library, Yale University and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library). William Mason (fl. 1672-1709; d. 1719?) issued three influential treatises on shorthand: the present work, first published in 1682, and the more romantically titled "A Pen Pluck'd from an Eagles Wing" (1672) and "La Plume Volante" ("The Flying Pen") of 1707. Developed over half a century, Mason's system used 423 characters, and words were written as they sound, a fact that makes it of interest to modern linguists for the light it can shed on 17th-century English pronunciation. Mason's system was adapted by Thomas Gurney for use as the official shorthand of the criminal courts at the Old Bailey, his influence on stenography stretched into the 19th century. Mason's one-shilling publications both supplemented his income and promoted his services as an instructor of stenography; the title page here advertises lessons available at his "Writing School, the Hand and Pen in Grace-Church Street."

Ordered from Christopher Edwards, D9672, 2023-07-19, purchased at Dominic Winter Auction "Printed Books, Maps & Documents, Caricatures of James Gillray" 19th Jul, 2023, Item #351

272889